Curious to hear thoughts on this talk-- what parts ring true, how much of it is just rock critic whining, do you think Donewaiting is guilty of these complaints or does it transcend them (or both)?

Re: blogs never writing negative things about bands -- Would you want to read more often about why someone dislikes a band? (From my viewpoint, I only have so much time to write about bands, so I tend to focus on bands I like and want other people to hear. ...TOP is a little different, since sometimes I write about whatever has been recently submitted...)

Weird. I think not many people write about the negative because not many people really want to read that. I can see where music journalists in general tend to give good reviews to bands who make the industry money, like Rolling Stone giving REM and U2 at least **** every record no matter how shi&&y they really are. Kind of like the Grammys blatant a$$-ki$$ing to their new and veteran money makers. Feed the machine. Job security.

I've never had a problem writing negative crap and I think most people don't really care for it even when I'm kidding around. I also don't care about my blog. I don't think I've updated it in 6 months. I also realize that my opinion means nothing.

_________________People to whom nothing has ever happened cannot understand the unimportance of events.

I think the numbers and google trend parts were right on. I'm not so sure about his claim that no one is writing negative reviews on blogs anymore.

Yet, I have never felt that music writing has mattered as much as some of the people who write it do. Rock music did not become big because some dude in glasses fucking took it apart piece by piece and overthought it to death. Rock music made it because it made young people with disposable income want to go crazy on a Friday night. Chris seems to think that rock journalism is tied to everything and is the reason for everything. Of course he would.